Hellen Gets High Marks in Administrator Evaluation Meeting

In a meeting running to about 40 minutes Wednesday evening, Town Administrator Jamie Hellen faced an ad hoc panel charged with conducting a periodic performance evaluation of his work in comparison to goals set out earlier.

Led by Clerk Glenn Jones and also including Chair Tom Mercer and Vice Chair Robert Dellorco, the trio initially invited Hellen to provide an overview of his work. Naturally, Hellen mentioned early on the unexpected and substantial challenges presented by Covid.

Each of the committee members to turns enumerating and occasionally challenging Hellen on each of the main areas of responsibility on which he is judged, starting with Mercer and ending with Jones.

Jones went somewhat off script and asked Hellen about the stresses of the job – Covid in particular – and whether the stresses were burdensome (Hellen said, for the most part, no, but admitted he is “done” with Covid)...

More to the point, alluding to the recently announced departure of Superintendent Sara Ahern – well before the expiration of her contract period -- Jones probed Hellen regarding his commitment to the town and said it would be challenging for the town if he departed unexpectedly.

Over the course of the meeting, each of the councilors complimented Hellen who, in turn, credited his ‘team’ – the department heads and employees of the town – for teamwork and commitment to the job.

In closing remarks, Jones added, that he appreciated Hellen’s commitment to communication. “it's awesome to call you because you know you're going to answer the phone. And you're going to give us the answer,” he said.

Below, the Evaluation Committee, Robert Dellorco, Tom Mercer, Glenn Jones.